


shelter and storm

by cygnes



Category: The Recruit (2003)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Manipulation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-31 03:44:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8562565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cygnes/pseuds/cygnes
Summary: Even in well-laid plans, there are empty spaces. It's the nature of the work. James has to trust Burke to bridge those gaps.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [【翻译】shelter and storm风暴与港湾](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11220372) by [liangdeyu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/liangdeyu/pseuds/liangdeyu)



> Originally posted [here](http://manzanas-amargas.tumblr.com/post/153069202200/together-for-the-sinewy-colin-farrell-evil) on my tumblr, for [Skazka](http://archiveofourown.org/users/skazka/pseuds/skazka) and the prompt "first (platonic) night together."

James doesn’t take the full 24 hours to decide, and he knows Burke didn’t expect him to. It feels like a set-up. But everything feels like a set-up since starting at The Farm, and he’s going to have to learn to live with that. 

He wants to believe that Layla doesn’t appreciate how she’s being used—that her handler is someone from her birth family pushing for her to do this for them, to get information that will secure their safety. But that does her another kind of disservice. Layla’s not stupid and she’s not blind and she sure as hell isn’t blinded by affection or attraction or chemistry the same way he was. She must be going into this with her eyes wide open. 

James agrees hoping Burke will be proved wrong, but expecting him to be proved right.

Burke, as usual, is equal parts smug and reassuring. He’s already clearing the way for the job at Langley, already setting up an apartment for James to move into. James goes back up to Boston to retrieve whatever his ex-roommates (his ex-friends and ex-colleagues), haven’t trashed already. 

They’ve left most of his stuff alone, actually, in the hope that he’d come back. He’s tempted to stay the first day in the old house, even hesitates in packing a few things. But he who hesitates is lost. Never get caught, never get attached. He’s not the same person he was when they were all postgrads fucking around in MIT computer labs. They deserve better than what’s left of him. 

So he sells some of his old furniture and buys a used truck. He calls to check in with Burke on the drive down to D.C. 

“The way you’re setting me up feels like I’ll be your kept man,” James says, half-joking. His throat goes dry as he says it. He wants to take it back. 

“You’re an asset, James, not my boytoy,” Burke says. He sounds amused. “Which I guess could be a different kind of kept man, but if you want to look at it that way, well. We’re all Uncle Sam’s dirty little secrets.” 

Burke says a lot of shit like that, but what he doesn’t say is that the lease on James’s new apartment doesn’t start until the beginning of the month. That isn’t for another week and a half. 

“I could have stayed up north until then,” James says. “If you’d told me.”

“Don’t be silly,” Burke says. “This will give you time to get the lay of the land.” James doesn’t want to ask where he’s staying in the meanwhile. It seems like a breach of trust, a vote of no confidence. Burke is his handler. Burke will look after him. 

Burke’s idea of looking after James turns out to be letting him sleep on his couch. 

“I won’t even be around much,” Burke says. “I keep odd hours. You know how it is.” What he means is that this isn’t his home: it’s a safehouse. James should feel privileged to know where it is. He doesn’t, though, because he knows that his being here will force Burke to abandon it as soon as he’s out. 

Burke doesn’t just give him directions and keys. Burke goes with him, gives him a walk-through tour of the place. Galley kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, living room/dining area. It doesn’t take long. They get take-out, Burke tells some unredacted war stories. The evening wears on, and there are more and more opportunities for Burke to leave, but—he doesn’t. Why maintain the illusion that he really lives here when James knows better?

James doesn’t have a good answer, but at a certain point, the drive down catches up to him. He curls up on the couch and falls asleep quickly. Burke is gone when he wakes up.

(There’s another memory of that night, hazier, and it’s one he denies for a long time. Even later, when he accepts the reality of it, he doesn’t tell anyone. Not Layla, not Ronnie, not his agency-assigned psychologist.

The memory is this: half-asleep, he feels fingers card through his hair. 

“You just want to be good for me, don’t you,” Burke’s voice says. It isn’t a question. He speaks softly, satisfied. 

James has more nightmares about this than he does about killing Zack.) 


End file.
